Still Trying to Locate those Personal Consumption Expenditures

I’m guessing they’re buried in Health Care and Education because it doesn’t look like they’re in retail sales. See what I mean:

Up until right before the crash the two tracked each other well. However, at the peak of the housing bubble, when Americans were supposed to be blowing all their money on Plasma TVs and nights out at the Olive Garden, retail sales growth was actually slowing down while Personal Consumption Expenditure continued growing, unabated.

To date Retail Sales have not yet recovered. However PCE is on a tear, breaking through the old peak and setting new highs. What gives?

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[…] been said that every picture tells a story, I reckon the image highlighted by Modeled Behavior in “Still Trying to Locate those Personal Consumption Expenditures,” tells the story about the alleged good health of the American consumer: I’m guessing they’re […]

[…] been said that every picture tells a story, I reckon the image highlighted by Modeled Behavior in "Still Trying to Locate those Personal Consumption Expenditures," tells the story about the alleged good health of the American […]

Is this not due to gas, utility and food price inflation which are often removed from retail sales numbers?

I know certainly in Australia, that gas prices, food prices and the costs of utilities have been rapidly increasing in recent years and placing substantially more demands on the pay checks of Aussie John Does.

Furthermore reduction of purchasing power due to long term currency devaluation must come in to play here?